[League update] 2012: Year in Review

Blaupunkt (aka Matt)

It's time to crown another league champion.

Blaupunkt held off a late comeback to upset heavily-favored Correctamundo 90.5-87.78 in the Royale with Cheese championship game.

Blaupunkt coasted along in second place the entire season, quietly sticking behind a dominant Correctamundo. He easily took care of his first round game and, in an interview before championship weekend, felt confident that he could take down the team that had lost just one week all year.

Blaupunkt jumped out to a sizable lead early. Coming into Sunday's final game, Blaupunkt had a 28-point lead and looked like he would easily take the title. Correctamundo only had a running back - Marshawn Lynch - left. But Lynch made it interesting. He scored a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown and ran for more than 100 yards.

Behind Lynch's 25 points, Correctamundo got within three points of Blaupunkt, but no closer.

This marks the first time in the short history of the league that the regular season champion did not go on to win the league championship. (Taking it to the next level won both last year.) But this was even more surprising (to me at least) because of the way Correctamundo dominated the league all year.

Blaupunkt asked after he won if he could get a real trophy, which is something I had considered. So I'm putting out a call: Let me know if you have an especially heinous trophy that we could pass around. It could be football, but doesn't have to be. We could change out the nameplate on it with a suitable trophy name. (If you have ideas for a good trophy name, also let me know.)




Some other notables from this season:

• Correctamundo was the league's top point scorer with 1,431.28. That is seven less than last year's high by Gangster Teddy Bears (now Team Squirrel Gravy).
• The best single week performance this year was Blaupunkt's 144 points in Week 2. 
• The best single-player performance in a week this year came during PerpetualMotionSquad's' resurgence when Doug Martin (RB, Tampa Bay) scored 51.2 points.
• Blaupunkt gets the most improved player award for going from next to last in 2011 to league champion this year.
• PerpetualMotionSquad, which conveniently shortens to PMS, wins my same-season comeback player of the year award. PMS languished at the bottom of the league for the first third of the season until I finally taught him how to play.
  
  He shot up the standings in the second half of the season and barely missed the playoffs. I'm interested to see how he fares in his second year. 
• Also, a shoutout to the ladies in this league, who may be more competitive than anyone else. I'm pretty sure most of the trash talk that came my way this year was from them, even from within my own house. Well done, ladies. 

This season felt very different from last, in a good way. We added 4 teams, which made the league more competitive. It seemed like positions 3-14 were virtually tied each week. One loss late in the season could mean the difference between playing in the championship bracket and not making the playoffs. 

We learned - a little late - that having a blog, Twitter and using video chats could make this a whole lot more fun and competitive. Never hurts to have more ways to interact and talk trash on Sundays and throughout the week. 

We (or I) also learned some lessons. Having two running back slots is hard with 14 teams. We'll adjust that next year. More to come on that in the summer. 

There is no plan to add more teams. We'd have to have an even number 16 is too much. There is a chance that a team will drop out and be replaced, but we'll stick with the 14 number. 

I had an absolute blast this year, and I hope you did, too. We're learning how to make this a great league together and I appreciate any input or criticism you guys have. 

Happy New Year! 

Corey

[Video] Championship preview: Conversation with Blaupunkt

I sat down with Blaupunkt Friday afternoon for the second part of our championship game preview!

We talk about how he feels playing Correctamundo, how he coasted along all season in second place and why he has three quarterbacks on the roster.

We worked hard to make this happen for two days (apparently Hangouts on Air don't like Apple mobile devices), so please watch! And thanks to Matt for taking time out of his convention in Chicago to record this.

Enjoy!


See my conversation with Correctamundo here.

[League update] We goin' to the Ship!

[Note: Sorry for the lack of an update last week. I was going to have a post and video for you Wednesday night, but my dog decided to go missing for 26 hours. We got her back safe and sound, but I was in no place to write about fantasy football. I hope you'll forgive me. ~Corey]

And then there were two. 

It all comes down to this. 

The final battle. 

One ring to rule them all. 

There we go. It feels good to get the cliches out.

One more week. It's flown by, hasn't it? It feels like just yesterday that we were huddled in front of our computers drafting players and making fun of Eve for selecting Michael Vick. But we have arrived at Championship Week.

Correctamundo has taken his rightful place in the championship game after Tom Brady helped him fight off a pesky Taking it to the next level. He'll face Blaupunkt, who beat Academic Probation and has quietly held on to second place in the league all year.

In the consolation final we have yours truly, who beat Chicks Dig Scars thanks to a (rare) long Chris Johnson run Monday night. (She wasn't very nice to me on Twitter during the game, thus the Vick joke above.)

He will face Big Kahuna Burger, who bent Something over a stool and spanked him until he called her "Daddy."

For Something's remarkably pathetic performance, he earned the first "Something's Rotten" award. I mean, you have to try to score 38 points with just one inactive player. It's impressive, like when the Panthers blow an 11 point lead against the Bucs in 4 minutes.

Congratulations on that and still having the worst team name in the league.

No Thursday night games this week, but the Falcons do play the Lions on Saturday night. Set your lineups accordingly.

Since this is the last league update before then, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! Hope Santa gives you everything you asked for. Unless your name is Katie and you asked for a fantasy football win.

[Video] Championship preview: Interview with Correctamundo

I talked to Correctamundo Wednesday night to preview this weekend's league championship game. We talked about how it felt to win the regular season, his one loss, his close playoff win and how he feels getting ready for the championship game.

Check out a video of the interview below!

Look out for an interview with his opponent, Blaupunkt, coming soon.

[League update] Week 13: The Dream Crusher

I'll admit it. I may have gone a little overboard with the email a couple days ago.

I had just been waiting so long for the day that Correctamundo lost. And it finally came.

I have to say it was a little less sweet because the team that beat him didn't even play an active quarterback. That's like fumbling right to a teammate for a game winning touchdown.

But it happened. It also spawned a new award, named after the victor: The Dream Crusher (I couldn't have scripted that better).

The Dream Crusher will be an annual award given to the team that beats the last remaining undefeated team, assuming a team makes it to at least 6-0.

I know it's crazy, but there is only one more week left in the league. One more week for 7-6 teams and 6-7 teams to make a case for one of the eight championship or consolation playoff sports.

REMINDER: The tiebreaker is total points for.

This week's Thursday night game is the Broncos and the Raiders. Set your lineups accordingly.

Also, you may have noticed that I created a Twitter account for the league. Yes, I'm a massive nerd. But I think we could have some fun with that. I followed most of you, but if you have Twitter and I missed you, it's @RoyaleWCheeseFB.

I'm taking suggestions for what the profile picture should be. Fire away.

Good luck.